ST. PETERSBURG — Mayor Bill Foster says he’s all ears when it comes to the City Council’s concerns about privatizing the only public housing complex in the city.

Foster indicated last month that he plans to run the Jamestown Apartments and Townhomes “more like a business” after a city audit revealed widespread problems at the complex and suggested that the city hire a private contractor to manage it.

On Thursday Foster said understood why the council decided that they were against privatization at a committee meeting last month. The mayor said he has a “good action plan” to share with council members at the next meeting, adding that he won’t consider hiring outside help to manage the complex until the city takes a full inventory of the problems facing Jamestown.

“Could somebody else manage that better? I don’t know that,” he told the council. “But I’m not proposing any of that. I heard you loud and clear.”

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